THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT

[189] EDWARDIII.,King of England, had, as you remember,
conquered a large part of
France. Before his death, however, many of the towns
and provinces he had won were
retaken by the French, while during the reigns of
Richard II. and Henry IV. England
lost all that was left of her possessions in France
save Calais.

Henry V., who in 1413 became King of England,
determined to win back these French
possessions.

He disliked the dauphin, who, shortly after Henry had
become king, had sent him a
present of tennis balls, with a message that it would
be well for him to stay at
home and amuse himself with these, rather than seek to
win a kingdom in France.
Henry also knew that France was so weakened by the
quarrels of her nobles among
themselves, that she had little strength to resist a
foreign foe.

The King of England therefore sent to France to ask for
the hand of Catherine,
daughter of Charles VI., and to demand as her dowry the
three important provinces of
Normandy, Maine, and Anjou, as well as a large sum of
money. Henry intended, if his
demand was granted, to keep peace with France; if it
was not granted, he meant to
declare war. But crushed as the French were by the
struggles of their nobles, they
were not so crushed as to agree to Henry's proposals.
The king therefore proclaimed
war against France, and in August 1415 he sailed up the
Seine and landed at
Harfleur, which he at once besieged.

For five weeks the town held out, thinking each day
[190] that the royal army, which
was now commanded by the Constable d'Albret, would come
to its aid. But as no help
came, the town was forced to surrender to the English,
who themselves were more worn
out by the siege than the French suspected. Many of
Henry's soldiers had indeed gone
back to England ill, many more had died from fever,
while those who were left were
in no fit state to fight.

Henry, however, would neither stay in Harfleur nor
return to England. With his army,
which was now a small one, he made up his mind to march
through Normandy, as English
kings had done before. When he reached Calais he would
take his soldiers back to
England.

So the men set out on their dreary march, and each day
they became more tired and
weak, for it was impossible to get food. The French had
burned all the farms in the
district, and carried off all the stores of food and
wine that they could find. Yet
tired and hungry as they were, the English struggled
on, wet to the skin by the
heavy rains of autumn, for it was already the month of
October. The country through
which they marched seemed utterly deserted; not a sign
of the French army was to be
seen.

But the French had been roused by the fall of Harfleur,
and they had assembled a
large army, nearly five times as large as the English.

Charles VI., who was less mad than usual, wished to
march with his army, but the
Duke of Berri would allow neither the king nor the
dauphin to be on the battlefield.

"Better lose the battle," he said, "than lose the
battle and the king." For the duke
had been at the battle of Poitiers in 1856, and
remembered how on that terrible day
King John had been taken prisoner.

Meanwhile, Henry was within forty miles of Calais,
having only once caught sight of
the French in the distance. Now, on October 24, 1415,
he found that the army in all
its strength had taken up its position between him
[191] and Calais. It was plain
that, tired and hungry as the English were, a battle
would have to be fought before
they could reach their haven.

The constable sent a messenger to the English king to
ask him when, and at what
place, he would be willing to engage in battle. Henry
V., regardless of the
miserable state of his army, sent back a defiant
answer.

"Tell your master," said the king to the constable's
messenger, "I do not shut
myself up in walled towns. I shall be found at any time
and anywhere ready to fight
if any attempt is made to cut off my march."

On October 25, 1415, the battle accordingly took place,
near the little village of
Agincourt.

The evening before the battle the French created five
hundred new knights. These
spent the long hours until dawn on horseback, in their
heavy armour, while the rain
fell in torrents, soaking the ground around them. In
the morning the new-made
knights were as tired as though they had already fought
a battle.

As the rain beat down upon the English camp, the
soldiers rolled up the banners to
keep them dry, the archers carefully put new cords to
their bows, while stakes were
driven into the marshy ground to check the first attack
of the French cavalry. Then
the soldiers confessed their sins, and after praying to
God, lay down to rest on
beds of straw. Not a sound was heard in the English
camp for the king had ordered
silence. A knight if he disobeyed would lose his horse,
a soldier his right ear.

With the dawn the English could see the great numbers
of the French army, and one
knight said to another, "It were well if we had ten
thousand archers from merry
England with us to-day." "Nay," said the king, who had
heard the knight's words, "I
would not have one more. It is God who hath appointed
our number." While to the
officer who came to tell him the exact number of the
foe. Henry with his indomitable
spirit answered only, "There
[192] are enough to be
killed, enough to be taken
prisoners, and enough to flee."

As the day grew light, the French cavalry was ordered
to attack the English archers.
They dashed forward bravely, but their horses soon
stuck fast in the muddy ground.
Making desperate efforts to struggle on, the poor
beasts but sunk the deeper in the
mire. And all the while the English archers were
pouring in upon them an unceasing
shower of arrows.

At length a portion of the French cavalry reached the
enemy's lines, only to find
their horses driven upon the stakes which had been
fixed in the ground by the
English soldiers.

Wounded by the stakes, pierced by the arrows, the
frightened animals turned and
plunged madly back among the French foot-soldiers,
throwing them into utter
confusion.

Then down upon the surging mass of wounded men and
frightened beasts came the
English, armed with axes, clubs, swords. At the sight a
panic overtook the French
army, and in complete dismay all who could fled from
the field.

Never did a more complete defeat overtake the French
than on the field of Agincourt.
Little quarter was given, yet the number of prisoners
was great. As the battle drew
to a close, a report spread that the Duke of Brittany,
with a large force, had come
to the help of the French.

King Henry, fearing that his prisoners would be in the
way, then gave orders that
these hapless, unarmed soldiers should at once be
killed. And this cruel order has
ever been a blot upon the fair fame of Henry V. King
of England.

On the battlefield lay slain, their banners by their
sides, many of the nobles of
France. The constable also had perished, while among
the prisoners of high birth
were the Duke of Orleans and the Duke of Bourbon.

Henry was now free to march on toward Calais with the
brave army that had wellnigh
forgotten its weariness in the joy of victory.

[193] On the way a halt was called, and the king sent
bread and wine to his
prisoner, the Duke of Orleans. But the duke, though
wounded and faint, refused to
eat or drink. Then Henry himself went to see him, and
begged him to eat, but still
the prisoner refused, saying he wished to fast.

"Cousin," said the king, "make good cheer. If God has
granted me grace to gain the
victory, I know it is not owing to my deserts. I
believe that God wished to punish
the French. And if all I have heard is true, it is no
wonder, for, they say, never
were seen disorders and sins like what are going on in
France just now. Surely God
did well to be angry."

A little later King Henry reached Calais and sailed for
England, where he and his
victorious army were greeted with great joy by the
citizens of London.

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